♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] don't just reject convention. drown it out. introducing the all-new 2013 lexus ls f sport. an entirely new pursuit. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> all of you who live and breathe the hard work of change, i want to thank you.

you took this campaign and you made it your own and you organized yourselves block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, county by county, a movement that spread across the country, a movement made up of young and old and rich any poor and black and white, latino, asian, native american -- >> together, we must lead america to a better place. we're one day away from a fresh start. one day away from the new day of a new beginning. my conviction is that better days are ahead and that's not based on promises or rhetoric, but on solid plans and proven results, and on an unshakeable belief in the greatness of the american spirit. good morning, once again. it's 10:00 on the east coast. it's tuesday, noefr noef 6th, election day.

we're live from democracy plaza, 30 rock on november 6, 2012, as voters across the country flocked to the polls to choose the next president of the united states. we kicked things off at 5:30 a.m. and you know what? we're not done yet. >> mitt romney and his wife anne voted in belmont, massachusetts. congressman paul ryan voted in his hometown of janesville, wisconsin. >> earlier today, vice president joe biden and his wife jill cast their ballots in greenville, delaware. biden was optimistic, not just about this election day and also for the future. take a listen. >> i hope everybody exercises the right to vote. it's a great honor and people are standing in line for a lot of places. stand in line as long as you have to in order to vote. >> any prediction?

>> i'm feeling pretty good. >> last time you'll vote for yourself? >> i don't think so. >> joe in 2016. two small towns in new hampshire got a jump on the election day, and opening the polls just after midnight, of course. legendary dicksville, made famous in 1960, split vision, five votes for each candidate and there were 23 votes for the president and nine for mitt romney. polls are closing at 6:00 eastern in kentucky and indiana and we'll begin to see some important results roll in after 7:00 when polls close in another half-dozen states including virginia. it should be interesting. with us on set we have msnbc contributor and former senior strategist from the mccain-palin campaign, steve schmitt, good to see you. mel will melody barnes and mark barnicle, and sam stein and willy geist, of course, is back

at the table with us. >> also with us from washington, we have former speaker of the house and former presidential candidate newt gingrich. >> good morning, mr. speaker. >> mr. speaker, let's start with you. what are you looking for tonight? is virginia going tell the tale early? >> let me say first of all, i want to pick up something you said yesterday. i think the opening chapter of theeder white's 1960 making of the president captures the romance of the american system, the degree to which today is the american people's day, and the politicians and prognosticators, today is the american people's turn and we'll find out tonight. i think virginia will tell part of the tale. romney has to carry virginia in order to win and we'll know, i think, pretty early from returns around the state whether or not he's going do that. a also think, frankly, pennsylvania will tell part of the tale. if romney, in fact, is doing as well as the most recent polls in pennsylvania, which could end up being a much, much bigger

victory than anyone expects and certainly expected on saturday. >> mr. speaker, it's willie geist, i'm curious to know about mitt romney, a candidate who during the course of the season, has he changed? have you come around to him or how are you feeling about mitt romney on election day? >> never thought he wasn't fit to be president. we've had a very wide range of presidents, and i would just say this. if mitt romney does win today in many ways it will be a uniquely personal victory. his achievement in the first debate which was the most lopsided debate in the 50-year history of political presidential debates that achievement was extraordinary and his discipline in the second and third debates was extraordinary and the way they managed the campaign in the stretch was solid. the scale of the system they built was very impressive and basically rivalling the obama system. so if he does win tonight he will have earned it and then the

real challenge will become is to be an effective president. as obama discovered in 2009 it's easier to win the presidency than to be an effective president. >> mr. speaker, finally, it's been an interesting past week or so with the hurricane, and i'm wondering as a surrogate for mitt romney, if the situation with chris christie as complicated as people are making it to be? >> chris christie is chris christie. he's a remarkably, merck you arial person with a very strong personality. he saw his state shattered by the hurricane. everyone who loves the jersey shore was shaken by the elf well of devastation. he behaved like chris christie. for about three days obama got a bounce out of it. i think he began to fade on friday and saturday and it reminds us that homeland security as a department has once again failed as it failed in katrina, and i think, remember, this is the government obama wanted to help deliver your health care. as you watched the long lines

and watched the failures and excuses, do you really want that to be the source of your health care? >> all right. newt gingrich, thank you so much for being with us this morning. i think melody barnes will have a different view of it. >> she does. >> great to see you. so, melody, what are you looking for tonight as the polls start to close around 7:00? >> sure. sure. first of all, i agree with the former speaker on this. it is the american peopli peopl and people exercise their responsibility tonight and i actually spent about ten days in virginia. my mother has been recuperating and in my hometown of richmond, virginia, and talking to people and overhearing conversations there and people coming to me and saying here are the president's victories. this is why we're going to vote. i stood in the cold when i got back here to vote in district of columbia, you know, it's not quite a battleground state, but people standing in long lines. i was on the acela last night coming up here and the guy working the cafe car from new

jersey telling me i want our guy to win and this is a guy who is near the ocean and going to the point of the importance after the recovery. >> one guy in the cafe car. what are you going to say about the 20,000 people who showed up for mitt romney at the rallies? >> look at the early voting, state after state after state where the president, 50%, 60% of the people who expected to vote have voted and the numbers are breaking toward the president in a strong set of circumstances, and i look at the fact that more people are registered and a more coalition is registered than was before in 2008 and those people are out and voting and that's yet campaign feels confident. it's going to be close. we always said it was going to be close, but that's why there is confidence. >> steve schmitt. what are you looking at? >> i'm looking at loudoun county. it will be an anticlimactic evening. virginia, they usually count quickly and it will come in early, and virginia is what i'll be looking at tonight. >> mike barnicle.

>> are you looking at anything? >> he's look at a key senate race in massachusetts. you obviously has elizabeth warren and scott brown. that has been a nail biter all of the way to the end. >> yea, the way that's going to turn is depending on the amount that the percentage of the governor romney beats governor romney's home state, if it's above 15% or 16% it will be a tough hill for scott brown to climb, but just one reference, i wish the speaker had been able to stay with it a little longer. i don't know where he was headed in trying to equate the level of historic incompetence after katrina in new orleans to what's taking place in metropolitan new york today. we have the united states marine corps in staten island and all sorts of ships with gasoline being filtered in to new york harbor. there are still a lot of people suffering, but the response from the state of new jersey, governor christie and from the federal government is far outdistanced the response of

katrina. >> i think that's fair. >> governor christie has saidas much himself. >> sam stein is with us in washington. this is the most we've seen you this morning. shake out the race for us as we sit here at 10:09 a.m. on the east coast. >> what is that orange concoction that orange is drinking. i may be late to the game, about i'm curious about what's going on? you don't want to know. >> it is sludge taken from the dirtiest part of lake erie and it's good. >> good stuff. >> it sounds nutritious. >> it's going to be a long day. go ahead. >> you know, listen, we've all sort of figured out where the state of the race is, and someone who believes in the numbers and you look at it and you feel pretty good for obama and you look at all of the battleground state polls and he's winning basically all of them and you look at the national polls and he's eked ahead a lot of them and if you believe in numbers. i'm someone who does, and he has a better chance of mitt romney

to win this. there are circumstances where you can see it happening, but i think going into it i think i would rather be in obama's camp than romney's. hispanic turnout, we have a demographically changing country and they were before eight or 12 years ago and it's a microcosm of the quest that obama has at hand which is that he's got these demographics on the side and it's not going to set the stage just for this election and for future elections in legislation because if hispanics turn out that means that we'll have a huge impetus in the next two or three years to do immigration reform and it means that the republican party will have to adjust how they approach leches from here on out. >> steve schmitt, let's talk about the romney camp's hopes. a lot of those hopes depend on the national media having the wrong -- sort of the wrong

matrix in their polling. could you break that down for us? how could the majority of the media polls be wrong? >> it's unlikely that the romney camp is right, but their hopes are squarely vested in the notion that the totality of the public polling that it's been wrong and that the model that they predict which will lead them to victory is one seen only by them is going to manifest itself tonight. they've vested squarely in the belief that in state after state that the model that all of the media are using to predict a turnout is wrong and we'll see -- >> it's unlikely to be? >> what's their argument? >> the argument is that the enthusiasm in the electorate and that the composition of the electorate because of that enthusiasm will be much more republican than the models in all of the public polling. >> so what's the democratic path

to victory? >> it's a very close election in state after state, there's still a margin of error race and what we'll all come down to for many, many months on the show, it will come down to ohio tonight. mitt romney, he's got to win florida. he's got to win virginia and he's got to hope that ohio tps in that election and if ohio tips to mitt romney and he's got a chance at being the 45th president of the united states. >> if the president wins reelection what's his mandate for the next four years and how does it look for the republicans? >> i think the mandate is about finding and approaching our deficit and investment, return on investment initiatives in a balanced way. it's doing this in a way as he's described from day one, you know, with investments in places where we see returns like in education, manufacturing and energy and at the same time squeezing that deficit town and doing that in it a way that puts the middle class back at the

forefront of the engine of the economy. >> do you feel that he can work with republicans and the republicans can work with him. the republicans will keep control of the house. >> i do. i think we've said this in the conversations before and what this requires is that everyone come to the table and understand what their responsibility is as elected officials and the responsibility of the people of the united states to get things done and that can happen with people on all wings of the party. i know the president is committed because i work with him day in and day out and i know there are people of good conscience that come to washington and it redwyquires h to sit down and get things done. >> they can all be driving toward a fiscal cliff. >> melody, great to see you. >> thank you very much. >> tell your mother hello and hope she's feeling better. >> yes. >> please stay with us, if you can. >> much more ahead, live from democracy plaza we'll bring in former new york city mayor, rudy giulianis and new york times, andrew ross soshgin and former

dnc chairman howard dean and standing by on deck, political analyst howard feinman, and bob schrum and jonathan kpart, and you're watching a special edition of "morning joe" live from democracy plaza. humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

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do you know where your polling place is? maybe somewhere around my house. mine's just, right over that way. well you can find out exactly where it is using bing elections. it's a good day for politics. which way do you lean politically? conservative. republican. well, using the bing news selector you can find news from whichever way you lean. (together) social on this side, financial. which party is currently predicted to win a majority in the senate? the republicans? would you make a bet on that? no. are you chicken?

>> the energy and enthusiasm is on our side and as you know, at the end of the day if you have a

grassroots machine in place, which we do, and you have the energy and enthusiasm it gives us an advantage. i think we'll win ohio and i think it will be narrow and as goes ohio, they say, so goes the country. >> i feel pretty good about where we are. what we have to do today is make sure that we outwork the romney campaign for one more day. we have to get our guys to the polls and make sure people understand at every step of this election just how important this day is, and if we do that, we'll be very happy later on tonight. 19, past the hour, joining us now in democracy plaza, nbc political strategist, and daily writer, and washington post columnist jonathan kaypart. steve schmitt still at the table, as well. good to have you onboard. >> bob, tell us, what's it like in the morning on these presidential elections and what are you doing? i know mitt romney is

campaigning today in pennsylvania. that's fascinating and it doesn't usually happen, but how does the day set up? >> he's campaigning in a careful way, he's not going to hold out a big rally which will have a lot of races to put it together. look, these are the longest days in politics, joe. you know that, you went through them. you get up in the morning and especially when we have a close race like in 2004, and then you get the exit polls which in 2004 were wrong and then you feel great for a couple of hours and it slowly begins, at least like in our case in 2004, it begins to seep away. i think what you pay attention to more than anything else on a day like this is the fundamental structure of the race, and i would argue that that structure favors the president right now, that he has to do a lot less to get to 270 than mitt romney does, and that -- but everybody will go out. you're going have portman, and

you're going have everybody spinning their thing. >> right. >> and it's hard to tell what people actually really believe because the campaigns have to go out. steve will tell you, you have to go out there and you have to talk up your game. >> right. >> and howard, i was on set with you in 2004 election night. i remember from 5:00 on everybody was saying president kerry, president kerry because the exit polls -- >> you know how to hurt a guy, joe. >> i think bob schrum told me. >> you know what, though? everybody in the media that always brings that up with bob, they don't tell him that they were saying the same thing at 5:01 p.m. and the dynamics of the race appear especially -- i'm big on the last 24 to 48 hours. it seems to be moving slowly the president's way if you believe the polls. >> well, it is interesting. >> and they are close. >> they are very close. i just wrote a piece for "the huffington post" that i call the

silverization of american politics about nate silver who really is a symbol of this campaign in a way or at least the media coverage of the campaign. in "the new york times" he has the odds of the president winning into i think, last time i looked, it was 92% and rising. you and i know and schrum knows, we all know there's no such number as 92% in politics, so i maintain some skepticism even though i toldly agree with schrummy about the structure of the race. basically what all the president has to do is punk you are one of mitt romney's balloons. >> yea. >> let's say, virginia and -- bang. so he has a much easier way to play defense -- >> you remember this, though -- >> but i want to hear what the vote verse to say. >> i agree. >> i want to hear what the voters have to say. there's a lot of anger out there on the people supporting romney.

if mitt romney doesn't win the race, in my view it's because he pursued what i call the take the curtain theory. do you remember the show "let's make a deal?" we know what's behind the obama curtain. it's not perfect, it's a washing machine that doesn't get everything totally clean. >> what does -- >> but what's behind the kurt n curtain? >> i don't know what's behind the curtain. >> that's great. >> i want to underline, quickly, mika what he said. >> yea. >> and that is we talked about 2004, i remember election night 2000, where george w. bush had to run the table on about seven states and nobody believed it would happen. this was two or three hours after the polls were closed. we don't know anything right now, but the dynamics of the race and it seems to be a bit uphill for obama. >> i think also engaged voters have a sense of the direction the country will go in depending on who they vote from. i think also, though, what we're

talking about in terms of exit polling problems from past elections, the momentum that mitt romney has seen in the polls and also in the crowds in the past week, but then sandy convoluting everything and even some of the symbolism with the president in there with chris christie, leaves i don't think anyone at this table or any table can be definitive. >> i think he's going to be reelected. >> all right. what are we betting? because we have bets. >> i'll do the mustache. >> i think there's a good chance joe will have to grow a mustache. >> how about, i don't know -- something that costs money would be nice. >> dinner? >> dinner? >> something in a red box, mayba i blue box. >> i like the blue box. >> i've been sending a lot of blue boxes to my wife. >> the reason i don't is when you make them as a reporter people assume that you want to happen what the predictions -- >> of course, they know what i

want to happen. >> okay. >> mika, i would add one other thing to your list of exit polls and moment up closing in the polls, sandy, but also early voting. >> right. exactly. >> when we have people voting for at least a month, month and a half and so we don't know -- i mean, we know by the tallies that the secretary of state from the individual states with the reporting and party affiliation and things like that, but until those are counted until tonight when we know how folks actually voted, i mean, i don't think we know. that feeds into the sort of uncertain. >> should we ask the voters a question to that? >> it makes the exit polling more complicated. as the numbers that make exit polling those early numbers will be -- >> some of the polls, actually, some of the polls are accounting for the early votes. >> some of them were doing it badly. >> let's go to boston, msnbc's chris jansing who is covering the romney campaign is standing by. chris, mitt romney and paul ryan will be in cleveland and pittsburgh today. are they confident they can win

the buckeye state? >> well, the campaign says they're confident. on the other hand, mika, in all of the years i've been covering campaigns never heard one of them say on the morning of the election that they felt like they were scared, so there's that. bob schrum makes a really good point in that these are the longest days of the campaign when they're waiting when people are voting and what i was told this morning was that the decision to go to ohio and pennsylvania was mitt romney's. he basically said i don't want to be sitting in a hotel room and twiddling my thumbs. i want to get out there and obviously, pennsylvania is a state that they've tried to push in the closing week of this campaign. they put a lot of money into advertising, but ohio, when he and paul ryan go to ohio, we've been counting the number of visits by the four candidates and their spouses. it will be number 126 and 127th visits this year by the candidates to ohio, and i think you heard from ron portman this

morning they feel they've got energy and enthusiasm. they've got the same people running his ground game there that ran portman and the governor's ground games and obviously, they both won. so they're feeling like they have a good chance there. they're obviously going to be watching virginia on pins and needles and that comes at 7:00. because you point out, if they don't win virginia the path gets exponentially higher and ohio -- >> one more thing that i want to say about where i am at the convention center and this is especially for you, joe, this is going to be a big party, but in keeping with mitt romney's fiscal conservatism, it will be a cash bar. >> there you go. >> i think we see what a brutal, grim, four years -- >> that's austerity. >> i love it. >> onnior own. >> chris jansing in boston. thanks so much. >> that is funny. let's talk about election day. i don't know what you did or john mccain did on election day

and bob schrum, what you did, but i'll tell you what, i woke up early. i get in my car and i drove by myself. i mean, on election day i stayed away. i mean, it is even if you're running for a little congressional seat it is a nerve-racking experience. >> it is a brutal day. it feels like a -- you have no higher aspiration day in '04 and '08 and '06 and you just want to be by yourself. you don't want to answer any questions, but it is an awful, awful, awful day if you're in these campaigns. >> and everyone has to work, you know. the candidate has to work in the presidential campaign, but if you do if you're not out to pittsburgh or cleveland, you're sitting in a room and you're doing interview after interview after interview with local tv stations in battleground states. >> all day. >> you do it from 7:00 in the morning all of the way up to 7:00 or 8:00 or 9:00 at night.

>> i prefer to be in a car. >> 18 years ago today. >> and you are getting a call every 30 seconds from people, what are you hearing? no one has any idea what they're talking about and it's like the kids' game of telephone, and it is just a long day. >> howard, to really underline just how the fact that nobody knows nothing at this point of the day, we just go back to 2008, and what was supposed to be hillary clinton's last campaign, new hampshire, where the day before she was down by 11 points and 12 points and everyone was dancing on her grave and the exit poll showed she was losing and then the voters of new hampshire spoke. >> well, i like it that way. >> i love it. >> i don't like -- not talking about the result, i'm talking about the process. what i like most is when we all stop trying to say what the voters think and let the voters

speak for themselves and that's why we're all in this business and that's why we're all in democracy plaza, so let it roll. >> one of the most irritating -- one of the things that drives me crazy is every time i hear someone go to the floor of the house or the senate and say the american people want -- >> how do you know what the american people want? what poll, what focus group don't speak for 300 million american people? >> i never said that on the floor. >> people are now going through your old speeches. >> yea. >> there are now legions of people in mommy's basement on the computer. >> howard feinman, bob schrum, thank you very much. jonathan, steve, stay with us. still ahead, nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us live from ohio and standing by in the "morning joe" cafe, andrew ross

sos sorkin. he's standing next to our sign. that sign scarce me. the recovery, forts in the aftermath of sandy as another storm heads to the northeast, if you can believe it and reminder, polls close at 7:00 p.m. eastern in georgia, indiana, kentucky, south carolina, vermont and virginia. we'll be right back with much more with the extended version of "morning joe." a winter wonderland doesn't just happen. it takes some doing. some coordinating. and a trip to the one place with the new ideas that help us pull it all together. from the things that hang and shine... ...to the things that sparkle and jingle. all while saving the things that go in our wallet. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot.

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now's a good time to think about your options. are you looking for a plan that really meets your needs? and your budget? as you probably know, medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs every year. call today to request a free decision guide. with this type of plan, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that

accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see a specialist. if you're thinking about your options, call today. when you call, request your free decision guide. and find the aarp medicare supplement plan that may be right for you. i'm thomas roberts with your election news update. it's been more than a week since hurricane sandy battered the northeast and millions remain without power. 2 million customers in eight states don't have electricity. utility officials in new jersey

say they have made a lot of progress, restoring service to 80% of its customers. as the shoreline region struggles to recover and rebuild from the destruction, there are small signs of relief. lines of gas stations are beginning to shorten and in new york there are fuel shortages being reported in major outages especially in parts of westchester county in queens and 400,000 remain without power in the empire state. later this morning department of homeland security secretary janet nonnal tan on will visit nassau county where she will will be briefed on recovery efforts. the number of people killed as a result of the storm stands at 112. that number can go higher when they resume search and recovery, forts today. there is more bad weather news coming up the coastline. the nor'easter is packing wind that could not only trigger more powerful outages, but bring more trouble to an already-devastated region, bill, this would

certainly add insult to injury to so many that are already having to reel after sandy. >> there are people who got power that will lose it again. how sad is that? it's freezing cold in this section of the country. the election day forecast and then the nor'easter which will run up the shore. minor coastal damage and additional power outages and heavy, wet snow. this is my wind forecast. strongest winds 40% to 60 miles per hour and coastal jersey, southern new england and those were the areas that were hit so bad the last time. we had heavy winds with the forecast for the voting that was down in florida and that will begin to move out and we have a light, wintry mix and most of the country is looking at a beautiful election day forecast and that worked out for us and it's that nor'easter, there it is on the southeast coast that will cause us the most problems as it comes up the north. snow will be likely further inland, a wintry mess outside of new york city and philadelphia, but it's along the coast,

thomas, that we're most concerned with. we are going see large wave, six to ten-foot waves and no dunes or anything out there. as thomas was showing you the pictures, it's not a pretty scene on the jersey shore and it won't be tomorrow either. coming up on the special coverage of "morning joe," who knows new york better than governor rick strickland. stay right here on "morning j joe." gives you a low national plan premium... so you can focus on what really matters. call humana at 1-800-808-4003.

♪ ♪ ♪ are you doing that on purpose? >> no. >> because bring back chuck is on the prompter. >> and we got him. and he's not just in the command center. >> and above all else, it's chuck todd. >> no. i love -- >> you just said we run it into

the ground. >> it's more prophetic today. >> as you can see, they're getting a little punchy. joining us from democracy plaza, we have chuck todd, jonathan kaypart and steve schmitt and also from ohio, ted strickland and it's funny, we were going have -- >> pat toomey, but you know what? the camera doesn't work. >> can you believe an msnbc camera doesn't work for the republican. >> i'm just saying. >> even twitter doesn't -- >> a technical glitch. >> so let's go to ted and i'll speak for senator toomey. great to see you, ted. so we've got ohio. how do you feel about the democrats' turning out tonight? >> i feel pretty good. it's a beautiful day in ohio. a wonderful day for people getting out to vote, and i feel very positive.

i think the president's going to win ohio. it will be close, but i think it could be a fairly comfortable margin, though. so, you know, we'll have to wait until the votes are counted. >> how do you feel? >> i feel good. >> to define a comfortable margin. >> i think the president will --some in my judgment this is a guess, obviously, but two and a half percentage points and i think that would be a comfortable margin. >> you don't sound too sure of yourself. >> just saying. >> we're two and a half points in ohio this year is a landslide. >> yea. >> it would be very good. but you know, 1.8 million ohioans voted before the polls opened this morning and we believe almost two-thirs of those are for the president and we've got a good get out the vote operation here in ohio. the polls have been consistent. the president's had a very modest, but a very consistent lead in ohio now for really a

period of three or four months and so, i think we have reason to be hopeful, but we're not taking anything for granted, obviously, and a lot of work is being done today. so let's talk about the early voting in ohio, guys. obviously, it makes a huge difference in how this state's going to break because what's already in the bank, what does mitt romney have to do today to make up for vote that he didn't get in early voting? >> substantially better than the president, but we don't know exactly by how much. i think it made a big effort on early voting, but not as early and not as intensely and not as well as the democrats have in part because of the president and the vice president spending time there because the first lady and governor strickland have done these big events where they basically say, it's over and now they take the early vote and they've taken a lot of votes that way. >> chuck, you can have situations in ohio and other early voting states and mitt

romney can win five percentage states. >> democrats bought into this early vote before. >> you know when it all started, and i was reminded it started with a special election to replace bob packwood, in 1990, and with the first time oregon decided to go all-male ballot and democrats won it in the mail boxes and they did it each though they were outspent and gordon smith became the senator and that's when they learned the power of this and they went ahead and by 2000, one of the reasons why bush looked like he was going win election day and gore ended up overperforming in the state of iowa, for instance, they put a premium on this. democrats have been ahead of republicans on this, arguably, steve, for a decade. >> absolutely. and the trend for all of these leches is more early voting in more and more states and republicans have some catch-up to do in the years ahead. >> why is that? because republicans used to do better in absentee voting?

>> when you look at early voting it's for the reason that you said. you have these advantages for democrats and they're more urban and they're more suburban. you have the rallies and they're going from the rallies, as you said, to the early voting and the republican party has become much more urban and much more rural over the last decade and it's just harder because of the demographic dispersal of the population to do what the democrats have done. >> and also, they have bruce springsteen, and we've got pat boone. >> come on. >> you have meat loaf. >> we do have the meat loaf. >> yea. what is he saying? >> two out of three ain't bad. >> is it will you love me forever? >> it's paradise. >> okay. that was high school for joe. >> jonathan kaypart, you were not born when meatloaf broke in the 1970s. >> if that's what you want to believe, then fine.

governor strickland, folks are looking at florida and worried about whether florida is going to mess up this election, but there are also people who were talking about ohio and whether ohio is going to be the place where, you know, all sort of electoral hell will break loose. how confident are you that -- >> there will be no recount. >> that the decision today out of ohio will be definitive? >> i think we'll have a clear victory here in ohio one way or the other. my prediction is that the president will win, but we have great confidence in our voting system. there are obviously debates and disputes, but i think we will know. four years ago ohio was called before 9:30, and i think we'll have a fairly early vote out of ohio tonight, and of course, before the president will be

over. >> never sounded so confident, governor. >> before midnight -- >> exactly. >> all right. governor strickland, thank you very much. >> thank you -- >> by the way, i found out it was mitch scarborough's birthday. you know who else? >> hurricane dan. >> dan seymour. >> get out! >> just. >> in time for mitt romney. >> give him a free pass on election day. >> all right. sorry. >> that's love from me to him. >> all right. still ahead, we've got former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. >> oh. >> you're watching a special edition of "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪

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all right. we're inside the msnbc experience right along democracy plaza at 30 rock here. >> anybody can come down and it's open to the public downstairs and this is the morning joe, and the nassisist paradise, giant pictures of me, joe and mika, this is serving as our green room, as well and you can see david walker, andrew ross sorkin and mayor giuliani will join us and mark barnicle curiously autographing headshots of the reverend al sharpton. i think there's been some confusion down here at the msnbc experience. we'll get that sorted out. >> mika, we'll send that back to you in the booth. >> i don't know where to begin

with that. bring us some pen, willie. thank you. thank you very much. that's hysterical. we'll be right back, but first, just a quick reminder, polls close at 10:00 in iowa, montana, nevada and utah. keep it right here on an extended edition of "morning joe."

just so you all know, joe and i will be hosting a special election roundtable discussion at the 92nd street y in upper manhattan. >> that's the heart of rudy giuliani's political base. >> mr. mayor, there will be several bottles of vodka and when buzz words come off the television screens that we'll be following throughout the night, these gentlemen will be doing shots. it will be fun to watch.

go to 92y.org and we'll also have information on our blog. mojo.msnbc.com and proceed goes to funds for hurricane sandy and it all starts tonight at 8:15 p.m. we hope to see you there. when we come back, former new york city mayor rudy giuliani and andrew ross sorkin. stay with us. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] when these come together, and these come together, one thing you can depend on

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